Riber Castle Wildlife Park (Closed) Riber Castle

Meg-T

Meg-T

Well-Known Member
Does anyone remember Riber Castle in Derbyshire?

I can hardly remember it, and wondered if anyone else knew of it, or had any photos.

I do still see the wallabies that escaped running around the Derbyshire countryside though :D
 
I remember Riber Castle, and i visited the park in the late 80's

I dont think i have any pics, but i do have a guidebook and a good memory of the collection.
 
jacks zoo said:
I remember Riber Castle, and i visited the park in the late 80's

I dont think i have any pics, but i do have a guidebook and a good memory of the collection.
Click to expand...

Well feel free to share it :)

I went a few times when I was young, but cannot remember much. Lynx enclosures, a vulture, lots of wallabies, arctic foxes, porcupines, meerkats, Llama, Peccaries...

Thats about all I can remember! Do you know what happened to the place? I heard rumours that houses were going to be built on the land, but I am not aware that anything ever happened.
 
I have great memories of Riber Castle from my childhood through to when it finally closed it gates. It used to specialise in European fauna and rare breeds of domestic animals, but in the later years branched out a little and I recall seeing zebra there on one occasion.
At one time there was a model railway display, vintage vehicles? and several life size fibreglass dinosaurs dotted around the park.
Some of the enclosures can be seen in the film "Dead mans shoes" which was shot in and around Matlock
 
max said:
I have great memories of Riber Castle from my childhood through to when it finally closed it gates. It used to specialise in European fauna and rare breeds of domestic animals, but in the later years branched out a little and I recall seeing zebra there on one occasion.
At one time there was a model railway display, vintage vehicles? and several life size fibreglass dinosaurs dotted around the park.
Some of the enclosures can be seen in the film "Dead mans shoes" which was shot in and around Matlock
Click to expand...

I found a few old photos earlier in the back of a cupboard, including one of a zebra :D

I don't remember a model railway, but now you have mentioned it I do remember the Dinosours!! I think there was a wooden classroom with butterfly collections in it (does this sound familiar to you?).

And thanks for the tip off about the film - we actually own that on DVD - and I have never watched it!

:D:D
 
I did my school work experience there in the 90s and did the odd day of volunteering afterwards - I have quite a few pictures of the place - will try to dig some out and scan them.

Last time I was up there was for a rather pathetic car boot sale that we only went to for the chance of nosing about really. Most of the enclosures were still standing and just overgrown - as they appear in Dead Man's Shoes.
 
Am i right in thinking that Riber Castle had a really good Lynx collection at some point?
If so does anyone remember what species they kept?
Regards
 
Some photos up in the UK - Other gallery now. When I'm more awake I'll see if I can find any better ones and ask Sim to set up a gallery. :)
 
lynx

Riber was known for its Lynx, it had European,Canadian,Bobcat and Caracal, European Lynx were released from there as part of a reintroduction programme,I quite liked Riber although access was bad, and some of the enclosures weren't that good.
 
I visited a number of times over the years . The views were amazing , though it must have been very bleak up there in the winter . I remember the lynx , they were fairly basically housed , seem to remember different races of European lynx .

Other memories - breeding griffon vultures , a good variety of rare farm breeds with local sheep and poultry , a collection of domestic rabbits , zebras on the last visit . From memory it always appeared slightly ramshackle .

I have a couple of guide books and probably notes of one or more visit .
 
Thanks for the information on the Lynx Collection in many Zoo books i have Riber Castle was alwasy noted for having a superb collection of Lynx's.
It seemed to have a great collection of many species - which no UK zoo has got at the moment.
 
Had rummage through some old files and foudn a stocklist for Riber from about a year or so before it closed:

Red-necked Wallaby
Parma Wallaby
Black-tailed Prairie Marmot
Siberian Chipmunk
Fancy Rat
Domestic Mouse
Cairo Spiny Mouse
Roborovski Dwarf Hamster
Mongolian Gerbil
Jird
African Crested Porcupine
Guinea Pig
Mara
Capybara
Brazilian Agouti
Chinchilla
Domestic Rabbit
Asian Short-clawed Otter
Meerkat
European Lynx
Geoffroy's Cat
Jungle Cat
Scottish Wildcat
Arctic Fox
Ring-tailed Coati
Vietnamese Pot-bellied Pig
Wild Boar
Collared Peccary
Guanaco
European Fallow Deer
Reeves' Muntjac
Dwarf Zebu
Domestic Goat (various breeds)
Soay Sheep
Shetland Pony
Grant's Zebra

European Jay
Zebra Finch
Red-rumped Parakeet
Ring-necked Parakeet
Golden-mantled Rosella
Pennant Parakeet
Peach-faced Lovebird
Fischer's Lovebird
Cockatiel
Budgerigar
Red-fronted Amazon Parrot
Capuchin Pigeon (domestic)
Fantail Dove
Common Collared Dove
Diamond Dove
Domestic Fowl (various breeds)
Golden Pheasant
Yellow Golden Pheasant
Silver Pheasant
Common Guinea Fowl
Blue Peafowl
Chinese Painted Quail
Barn Owl
European Eagle Owl
Little Owl
Common Scops Owl
Short-eared Owl
Snowy Owl
Tawny Owl
European Kestrel
European Buzzard
Lanner Falcon
Ferruginous Hawk
Peregrine Falcon hybrid
Saker Falcon hybrid
Steppe Eagle
Griffon Vulture
Domestic Duck
Muscovy Duck
Egyptian Goose
Emu
Greater Rhea

Giant African Land Snail
Hissing Cockroach
Vietnamese Stick Insect
Mexican Rose-haired Tarantula
Hermann's Tortoise
Spur-thighed Tortoise
European Pond Terrapin
Red-eared Terrapin
Bosc Monitor
Green Iguana
Corn Snake
Californian King Snake
Mexican King Snake
Royal Python




I think 'ramshackle' is probably fair - maintaining the listed Castle folly was something of a drain on finances.

In the last few years it was open, the park's lynx programme concentrated solely on European Lynx, and they were bred regularly.
 
I remember Riber Castle, depsite being fairly young (about 8 or 9) when we visited. I have a distinct memory of seeing coati here, it was the first time I had ever seen one. They were in a large (or at least it seemed large at the time) cage with ropes and branches, with an old brick wall at it's back. A little archway in the wall, to the left of the cage led through into the rest of the park.

I also remember arctic fox, jungle cat, lynx, prarie dogs, and a reptile house with a big monitor asleep in a cardboard box.
 
^Chris^ said:
I remember Riber Castle, depsite being fairly young (about 8 or 9) when we visited. I have a distinct memory of seeing coati here, it was the first time I had ever seen one. They were in a large (or at least it seemed large at the time) cage with ropes and branches, with an old brick wall at it's back. A little archway in the wall, to the left of the cage led through into the rest of the park.

I also remember arctic fox, jungle cat, lynx, prarie dogs, and a reptile house with a big monitor asleep in a cardboard box.
Click to expand...

About the same age I was when I used to go - I remember the Coati now - it was the first time I saw them too. They were next to the Coati cafe, and the cafe had a window into the enclosure :)
 
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